the goan I network
CANACONA
About 105 tourism operators/stakeholders from Agonda beach attended a hearing before the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authorities (GCZMA) in connection with show-cause notices issued to them for their tourism structures.
Earlier this week, the GCZMA beginning this week had served show-cause notices to around 105 tourism operators for operating temporary structures along the turtle nesting Agonda beach without specific permission from GCZMA and in No-Development Zone.
Some tourism operators who received the notices had attended a hearing before a GCZMA committee in the Secretariat at Porvorim on Friday, other tourism operators were given a hearing on Saturday.
A committee conducting the hearings on Friday and Saturday reportedly included officers from the tourism, Goa State Pollution Control Board and Forests, besides the three-member GCZMA committee comprising Member Secretary Ravi Jha and Expert Member Dr Prabhakar Shirodkar.
Some tourism operators complained of having received show-cause notices even for their residential houses, but the GCZMA committee refused to accept their explanations and bluntly told them that their structures were being used for tourism purposes.
According to some tourism operators, the GCZMA committee wants all structures to be dismantled/demolished before they apply afresh for permission, failing which they would be barred from carrying any tourism trade for the next three years.
The GCZMA has stated in its notice that failure to comply with the show-cause notice would compel it to proceed to issue final directions, which could include directions to demolish structures, disconnection of water
and electricity connections to restore the land to its original condition.
